How to Use Telemarketing to Support Your Chiropractic Practice

By Frank Gordon

Telemarketing can be a useful approach to support the marketing of your practice. Here are several examples of how telemarketing can be used to get new patients and to enhance the profitability of your practice with existing patients:

1. Remind patience in advance of their appointments.
2. Follow up to reschedule missed appointments.
3. Call to follow up on a session and get feedback from the patient on the quality of the session.
4. Call to ask existing patients for referrals. These types of calls should be integrated with a direct mail campaign.
5. Contact local associations to gain an opportunity to deliver speeches to local groups.
6. Call physicians and other potential parties who could endorse your services to other people.
7. Follow up with former patients who appear to have left your practice so that you can gain them back as patients.
For telemarketing to be effective, here are some tips:
1. Decide on an objective for each call.
2. Write a script indicating what the calling party should say. You also might want to consider an outline instead so the call will come across as being more natural.
3. Write a guideline on how to respond to the person being called if they have questions.
4. Consider recording some of the calls so that the effectiveness of the call can be assessed later.
5. Use contact management software to record the results of the call and schedule follow up calls. Ask if chiropractic practice management and billing software being considered includes support for telemarketing with practice management related functions.
6. Consider the use of an auto-dialer or an automated dialing function integrated with your practice management and billing system. An autodialer dials another party after a phone call to an existing party is terminated. Auto dialers can dramatically increase the number of calls made in an hour.
7. Consider sending members of your staff to a training program dealing with effective telemarketing.
8. Buy telephone headsets for those in your office who will be making the calls. Headsets allow for those calling to easily perform such functions as taking notes or inputting data into a computer.
9. Make certain the telephone services you are using are cost effective since telephone expenses could go up substantially if you are not managing your telephone expenses. Today, many phone companies provide unlimited local and long distance calling for a flat monthly rate. This is the best option for your practice in terms of controlling and managing your telecommunications costs.
10. Stay current on how other chiropractors are using the telephone to manage and build their practice. Read chiropractic practice management newsletters for tips on phone use and other aspects of marketing and practice management.
11. Examine metrics related to your phone calling activity. For example, in the case of patient rescheduling, examine how many calls are made, how many calls are completed, and what percent of completed calls result in reschedules.
Telemarketing can be an important component of your marketing and practice management approach if you use it correctly.

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